The Ultimate Trip

The Ultimate Trip

When it comes to air travel is a tight-arse option always the best? Given your life for that journey rests in the hands of the airline is it a concern that there might be muppets running the show or are the costs saved elsewhere? Or is this just an indication that the other airlines have been over-charging? Have you noticed the difference?

Okay, I've had my fingerprints and picture taken, been patted down, had my shoes taken, pockets emptied, deodorant confiscated, toothpaste emptied into a plastic bag. And now, apparently, I'm going to have to be X-rayed with not a stitch on!

So the 'bar mat mum' is now banned from the USA, and figures from the Department of Foreign Affairs show that Australians are getting into more trouble abroad than ever before. If you've never come across a bad Aussie tourist, then you probably are one! Have you ever had to put on a fake accent while on holiday for fear of being guilty by association?

More buck for your bang?
2/12/2008 1:02:00 PM,
Justin Jamieson
So the travel industry is in turmoil! A beer in Bali once cost less than a tram ticket but now things are different. There is no doubting that the declining value of the Aussie dollar has hurt all of our travel plans.

Airline seats  it's the size that counts!
8/09/2008 4:06:00 PM,
Justin Jamieson
I keep reading about the new Airbuses being bought by the major airlines with: huge new first- and business-class seats that recline fully; fluffy doonas and pillows; onboard massages; TV monitors the size of a drive-in theatre screen; food actually grown on-board so it is that fresh; wine served in crystal glasses; and passengers happier in-flight then actually on their holidays, etc.

All inclusive … minus the culture
27/08/2008 10:41:00 AM,
Justin Jamieson
Heading to a foreign country and hiding within the walls of an all-inclusive resort is something I have always struggled to understand. Sure I can see the attraction, especially if travelling with kids, but then why go anywhere foreign?

Though "mancation" seems to be a relatively new word, it is certainly not a new concept. The mancation manifests itself in annual footy trips, golf trips and fishing trips when a group of guys yearning for some time alone together plan activities that their partners have no interest in for the sole purpose of having an excuse to get away.

It seems a shame that it's taken a cyclone, which has wiped out more than 100,000 Burmese, for the world to focus on Burma and the suffering of its people at the hands of the military junta. This issue of human rights abuses can pose some tricky questions: should we continue travelling to Burma, or should we (like many other individuals and companies), take a moral stand and boycott the country?

When thinking of reproducing, many people fear that it spells an end to adventurous forays into the big wide world. Hello nappies, goodbye fun? Hello all-inclusive 'holiday parks', goodbye huts on the beach? Hello children, goodbye personality?